toy_rn65

Another pink, this is awesome, congratulations!

Nice, another pink. Congratulations. Just in time to celebrate the 4th.

I thought my dog was looking at me funny after I tried dog meat in China during the last trip!

Fly over with you for the interview? wow He must be charging some serious money, in the thousands?

You've been married how long? Ain't no such thing as a two-way street; there's only her way and the wrong way. I would agree with you on many other things but this particular issue is different. If the situation was turned around, how would she feel?

Yup, eating at McDs and KFCs sure beats what they have in stores. Check this one out: Chinese company reused 2-year-old snacks Oh btw, most of the tobacco industry in China is owned by the State/Party/Government or whatever they want to call it.

If our SO expect us to respect their culture and traditions which I don't think any of us will have a problem doing so, then, how about making it a two-way street.

Thats true. If you HAD one before the law was changed,then you can still get one now. What ever you have had in the past,you can get again,but you need to point it out to them by putting a post-it note on that page or submit a photocopy when making application. That's strange, I just got issued my M visa (one year multiple entry) from the Chinese consulate in LA last Sept.

I know, I know. Banging your head against the wall would have yeilded more result!

Don't be mistaken by the name of this place. "TianYu Garden" is the name of the apartment building/complex. When I was in GUZ during my last trip, I went by there to scoop out the suroundings of the consulate. TianYu Garden is the name of the complex where the US Consulate is located. From the photo on their web site, the rooms look like they are converted apartment flats or office units. It doesn't surprise me that CT couldn't get a "fa piao" from them because they are not a registered business therefore they don' t have "fa piao". I don't know what the building code or business code is in China but I doubt what they are doing is legal. CT's experience would warrant a letter to the Chinese Tourism Board. One thing I couldn't understand is, why are people willing to pay big money for those blank forms? It is clearly stated on the consulate web site and is also printed on correspondences they send out that all forms are free and can be obtain from the consulate! I guess since they catch you between a rock and a hard place, they can charge whatever they can get away with.

No shoes in the house, not problem since I have been doing it for many years. Hard mattress, I told my SO I will go to Home Depot for a piece of plywood and to REI for a camping mat. But she seemed ok with the soft mattress in the hotel we stayed while we visited Shanghai. I guess I will find out when she eventually get here.

Sorry to hear that. A log house doesn't mean it has to be old. It's just a differnt style, as a matter of fact, a regular house is made of the same thing as a log house. Hey, would you mind posting a pic or two of your "LOG house". Man, there are not that many people who don't like a log home. I Love them but it would be a long time before I can afford one myself.

Here is another property right insident happening in Beijing. Developer tearing down building while people still inside. Full story here.

I know exactly what you are talking about. I came across a couple of them even in the late 80's. Everything was fine on the phone until they saw me in person! How about moving to a blue state? Would that help? No thanks, it hasn't happened to me since I moved to a red state.

I know exactly what you are talking about. I came across a couple of them even in the late 80's. Everything was fine on the phone until they saw me in person!

Ken is right and I will add my 2 cents worth. It took me 5 years to totally loose the British accent and the younger you are the less time it will take. I remember in ninth grade, I was stuck in ESL for 4 months and the first thing the teacher told us was when people speak, pay close attention to the lips and tongue. She also said the best way is to watch news on TV. The whole year spent in a boarding school helped a lot too since it was all English from the minutes I woke up, to the minute I went to bed. Besides, there were a total of 8 Chinese students and we were allowed to speak English only. And you know you will be doing fine by the time you start dreaming and thinking in English. Last but not least, keep all Chinese contact to a minimum. In my case, call home only once a month but hey, long distance charge back then was over $3 per minute.

I was in a city in Anhui province once. And I saw the darndest thing. They had a big rice cooker and in it was not rice but all sorts of soda and even milk. The rice cooker was heating up the bottles and cans of Coke/Sprite/Milk. Admittedly, it was winter and quite cold outside, but still, I'd want ice with my Sprite, even in that temperature. It just blew my mind away they wanted to drink heated up Coke. As for stinky tofu, it reminds me of Parmesan cheese. Nothing smells worse than Parmesan cheese to me. I hear ya man! I was in Jinan one winter and having hot-pot for dinner with my SO and her family. She was ordering drinks and I said beer. When the beer came, it was kind of warm. Granted the temp was around freezing and there was no heat in the resturant (hot-pot, get it) but I still wanted my beer ice cold. You should see the face of the waitress when I asked if they have some cold ones. She brought some in from the storage outside of the restaurant, perfect! The waitresses were giggling and pointing while I emjoyed my ice cold beer. My SO was wondering how I don't get an upset stomach from cold drinks.

It looked like vegetable soup, it smelled like vegetable soup and it tasted pretty good. I had two bowls before the meal was over. Then they brought out the pot of soup so everyone can finish what was left at the bottom. And there they were, scorpions and centipedes. She said I turned kind of green and I didn't eat for the rest of the day.

Yah, wait while they were in China and wait some more after they get here! Hope you all will get a pass. Good luck!

There were nearly 6,420,000 auto accidents in the United States in 2005. 2.9 million people were injured and 42,636 people killed. http://www.car-accidents.com/pages/stats.html I wonder if many auto accidents go unreported in China. Look at their accident to death ratio compared to the US's. Hi Dennis In the states every single accident is usually reported - injury or not - because of the law and insurance requirements. Here most non injury accidents and small injury accidents are settled on the spot with cash. Also, sorry can't document it, there was something in the news about the police encouraging motorists (sic) NOT to report small accidents because it was an inconvenience to the police. In order to have a fair comparison, one has to look at the number of miles driven per death. I am sure it is much lower in the US. Some local traffic departments in China have unwritten rule about encouraging people to sattle minor accidents privately. So that their cities would appear safer.

I think I know the tofu you are referring to.....I have tried to convince my wife that it is horseshit, she has tried to convince me that it is tofu. I told her, if it looks like horseshit, and smells like horseshit, then it probably is horseshit! I tasted it too, and my God, is that what horseshit tastes like? You tasted it? WHY? Must be some powerful influence. The "smelly tofu" they sold in HK tasted pretty good to me. But that is a different style of "smelly tofu" than the different styles served in different part of China. It's an aquired taste, not everyone can handle it.

That is the fastest I have seen, congratulations!

Yea, that story has been floating around on Chinese websites until recently. They gave that house the name "Nail-House". The Chinese Central Government has given the order to all media (both prints and TV station), internet sites and hosts to stop all reportings and information regarding this story. Only from English channel can you get some info on this story.

All cell phone numbers in China (China Mobile and China Unicom) have 10 digits and usually look like this: 13XXXXXXXXX. All area codes in China begin with a 0. Some srea codes has 3 digits and some have 4, ie. Bejing-010, Guangzhou-020, Shenzhen-0755, Qingdao-0532 All land lines in China have 8 digits (NOT counting area code) Making a call within China: From a cell: to another cell- 13XXXXXXXXX (roaming or not) to land line within your cell's home area- XXXX XXXX to land line while roaming- 0XX or 0XXX then XXXX XXXX From land line: to cell- 13XXXXXXXXX to land line within same area code- XXXX XXXX to land line with different area code- 0XX or 0XXX then XXXX XXXX Calling USA from China (call your cell or land line phone company to activate international calling feature on your account): From a cell- 001 then XXX-XXX-XXXX From land line- 001 then XXX-XXX-XXXX Calling the police in China from any phone (cell and land line): 110 Calling the police in Hong Kong from any phone (cell and land line): 999 If you have a GSM cell phone, dialing 112 will get you the police in most countries around the world. Hope this help.

I would blind myself if I wore shorts! Or everyone else...